XGatorHead's KI Adventures

[XGatorHead 8904]

April 17th - Opening Day

My preparation started the night before. We continued our night-before-opening-day ritual of watching the Kings Island episodes of both The Partridge Family and The Brady Bunch. Many times when they showed a ride, GatorGirl would ask "Can I ride that one?" It was sad how many times I had to say "No, that one's not there anymore."

The day started early for me. Over the off-season, I've gotten used to sleeping in on the weekends, but on this day I got up at 7:30 like I normally would for work. After getting ready and putting on my "Line Jumping is Not a Sporting Event" shirt and my Haunt hoodie, I made a quick stop by BP to get some breakfast and a large cup of coffee, and I was at the park by 8:15.

As I got to the front gate I saw people waving me over... and of course it was a huge group of KICers! It was soon time for the ROTB... but I took my time and walked, catching up with Rotag on the way. Passing through PS, Charlie Brown stuck out his hand to me for a high five. As I passed him, I said "I defended you all off-season, man!"

First ride of the season was DB, and I was on the third train of the day. Rotag and I decided to head to Beast next, and we were joined by giga, Tom Random #'s, IndyGuy4KI and indianapolisman. Right away we noticed that the front of train/back of train split was moved up to the station... and I complained about no longer having any place to sit. I liked it, but then later that PKIBoy pointed something out to me that changed my opinion. A wider queue makes it easier for potential line jumpers. That quickly changed my mind! I really don't know who thought it would be a good idea for Rotag and I to be in the same seat... with both of us big guys, it was a little tight! On the ride Rotag and I posed for the camera, it was a good picture but we didn't get it.

We decided to go to Boo Blasters next, where we were joined by Avatar. What a great ride! I liked the fog projection and the skeletons after it, but I thought GatorGirl might have a little issue with it...more on that later. How I got a score of 1239 I'll never know... I've never seen a score not divisible by 10 before!

We started toward AZ, but we got distracted when Avatar said he wanted to ride DB. Giga got excited over this idea, so we let Tom and Rotag make their way over to Invertigo because they wanted to get first train of the season on that, while the rest of us went to DB.

After the 2nd ride of the day on DB, Indianapolisman decided to get a pretzel, which Avatar promptly took from him and gave pieces to me, IndyGuy, himself and a just a little back to Indianapolisman. You could tell by the look on his face that Indianapolisman didn't know what to think, but we had a good laugh about it and Avatar bought him a new pretzel.

We decided to walk past ET to get to BLSC, and we noticed lots of lights in the area behind ET and BLSC... looks like that rumored Starlight Experience is going there. There were lights on the tower, lights on the trees and bushes. I never saw the one at CP since I was only there for HalloWeekends last year, so I'm looking forward to see what KI has to offer. As I've posted before, the Gator family's favorite spot to watch the fireworks is the little concrete slab between ET and BLSC. This should be an interesting place to watch the fireworks now with all those lights in that area.

Next was BLSC. It was probably the longest I've ever waited for this ride, but it didn't seem to take too long. Tom got in line behind us, and giga reverse-line jumped to join him. The trains were stripped of their theming, but we did find one reference to Minis still. In line, there was a speed limit sign that still had the work Mini on it, it said something like "Speed Limit for a Mini 143". Only we would notice something like that...

This was the first time I ever sat front seat on this coaster. After we got off we stopped to talk to Ronny, who Avatar pointed out was looking Clark Kent-like in his glasses. We waited for Giga and Tom to exit, and we headed to Vortex.

Since the line was somewhat long, and there's only that fence that's easy to hop over, we had an incident of line jumping right in front of me. I took off my hoodie to display my Anti-Line Jumping shirt, but unfortunately we didn't have the opportunity to do anything about them since no ride ops or Security were present before we got on the ride. Dang kids!

After Vortex we went over to look at the giant hamster balls... er, "EuroBobble". Doesn't look worth $8 to me, but EuroBungy never looked worth the money to me either. It was around this time we were joined by Beast Man, his girlfriend and her nephew, and CoastersRZ. We talked to Ashers and kjkjkj for a little bit before heading to Festhaus for lunch and the 1:00 show of Way Too Much TV.

We had to sit towards the back of Festhaus, it was that busy. At this viewing, I wasn't too impressed with this show. I didn't really care for them adding lyrics to TV themes that were originally instrumental such as "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched" (or originally whistled as in the case of "The Andy Griffith Show"). Sure they're iconic themes and I can see why they would want to include them, but it just didn't hit home with me. Because of where we were sitting, I found myself looking at the TV screens more than the stage, so it was just like watching a revue on TV, about TV themes. Kudos though for including photos from the KI episode of "The Brady Bunch"! It would have been nice to do that for "The Partridge Family" too, but maybe they weren't available. And including "The Flintstones" theme was just torture for me and any longtime visitor to the park! I told the guys that Mrs. Gator will love the show since she's into all those classic TV shows. We all pretty much wished there was some dialogue or story line to tie everything together. Instead it was one theme right after another, boom boom boom. But I did get to see it again, and my opinion changed a little. More on that later...

We headed to FD next, and waited longer than I'm accustomed to for it, but it still wasn't that long. We got the back car... I love the swinging you get back there! The group was going to ride DT next. I would have sat out on that one since I can't fit... unless I have Stalkerchick and Violakat there to make me fit!... but they weren't with us. But the queue was full, so we headed over to PS to look around, stopped to watch about 30 seconds of Charlie Brown's Hoedown, then went to ride Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown. I guess this would be a good spot to say that Surf Dog looks a little empty without something on it, like the giant Avatar. It would be nice if they had a big Snoopy on there

The boat Indianapolisman and I were in had an excessive amount of water at the bottom of it. And it wasn't nice clear water. It was yucky, brown, unidentifiable-things-floating-in-it water. We both kept our feet up on the ledge at the bottom of the inside of the boat, but it didn't do much good, our feet were already soaked. The course of the ride was pretty much like it was when I was growing up... no spitting coconuts, no giant snake overhead, no themeing at all besides around the station. For someone who grew up during the time it was WTRA it may be a little too plain, and actually I wish they had replaced the old themeing with something.

At the end of the ride we had a somewhat unexpected surprise, even though CoastersRZ warned us about it. We got spit on by Snoopy! At least it was just a little bit of water instead of a big blast from the elephant. We went to DB to dry off.

While on the final brake, I heard my phone ring in my pocket. I knew it was Mrs. Gator, since it was almost time for them to get there after going to GatorGirl's friend's birthday party. I called back and they were on KI Drive. I left the group at The Beast to meet the girls at the front gate.

First place we went was PS for the official Kings Island measurement of GatorGirl. On closing day last year she reached the 42" line for the first time. Opening day this year, she hit the 44" line for the first time. PS was fairly crowded at that time... she rode Joe Cool's Dodgem School, Peanuts Off-Road Rally, Linus' Beetle Bugs and Sally's Sea Plane. They wanted to have dinner in Festhaus and watch the 6:00 Way Too Much TV Show.

This time we sat in the front and it made a big difference. I enjoyed the show much more the second time, since I was able to pay more attention to the stage. I liked the choreography during "The Brady Bunch", with them acting like the Bradys did during the title sequence of the TV show. GatorGirl was singing along to a few of the themes, and of course Mrs. Gator knew a majority of them. During the show, Mrs. Gator recognized one of the performers, Charity, as having played Belle in the Mason Children's Theater's production of "Beauty and The Beast" that we had seen a few years ago. Yes, Mrs. Gator has a freakishly good memory when it comes to stuff like that. When we were at Dollywood this past November, she recognized one of the performers in "Babes in Toyland" as having performed in a show we saw at Hersheypark a few months prior.

Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl went to talk to the performers. We love the fact that they started doing this in Festhaus a few years ago, GatorGirl loves talking to them! While they were busy doing that, and then later busy dancing, I talked to Rotag and Uncle Fester. GatorGirl wanted to go ride some more, so we were off again.

We wanted to ride Woodstock Express, but it was down. So we went to Linus' Launcher, then Shake Rattle & Roll which she had just ridden for the first time on closing day since she was just then tall enough. While in line, she asked "Is Shake Rattle & Roll a song?" I told her yes, then she started singing it. I didn't know she knew that song! That just goes to show that between Mrs. Gator and me, we've been exposing her to a wide range of music! While on the ride, she was giggling so much, and I had to laugh when she said "This ride tickles my tummy!"

Monster was next, then Scrambler. Mrs. Gator said that since it was getting so cold, they were going to leave at 9:00 after getting a pretzel from the new Pretzel Shop on IS. GatorGirl said "But I need to ride the old Scooby ride first!" She had called me earlier in the day and asked if it was okay for her, and I told her the first part was almost the same but without Scooby, and they changed the last part. So she was convinced enough to try it.

We got a cinnamon/sugar pretzel from the new shop, and we were not impressed with it at all. Hardly any flavor to it, and the cinnamon & sugar was pretty much non-existant. Nothing like the wonderful pretzels they used to have in the Candy Shop years ago in the Paramount days. Then it was time for BBoBH.

While in line, we ran into Rotag and Fester again. We got on the ride, and GatorGirl was fine with most of it. She was a little scared the first time she saw Boocifer in the first room, so I told her it was just a TV screen. Then she was a little scared of him at the organ, then we soon came to the part that was questionable. She cuddled with me when we got to the fog screen, and we entered the skeleton room... then the ride came to a stop. Of all the possible places for us to stop, this was the worst. Had we stopped in the first part of the ride, we would have been fine. Had we kept moving, it would probably have been fine. But nope, we stopped with the glowing skeletons!

They soon got the ride moving again after about two minutes, and she cuddled with me as we passed Boocifer for the last time. I tried to cheer her up a little in the scoreboard room by saying "Look, it's a nice forest now!" As she was getting out of the car, GatorGirl said "I'm never riding that ride again!" The ride op heard her and asked her "Why not?", and she said "It's too scary for me!" She wasn't crying or anything, just a little shaken up. We'll take our time getting her back on it again. Who knows, she may even change her mind later this season. She was a little scared the first time she rode SD&THC, but she got over it and on her own, without any urging from us, wanted to try it again. (The next day to try to get her used to scary things a little bit, but still in a funny way, we watched Ghostbusters. I figured if she was okay with the live-action Scooby movies, she'd be fine with this one. It was her first time watching it, and she ended up liking the movie... and she then wanted to watch Ghostbusters II as well, but we didn't have time. Mrs. Gator joked that maybe we should let her watch Poltergeist next.)

Being stuck on ghostly dark rides seems to be a recurring theme with us. It happened on our last visit to MK on Haunted Mansion, we got stuck in the cemetary scene, right in front of a skeleton that pops out over a tombstone... and kept popping out while we were stopped there!

I said my goodbyes to Mrs. Gator and GatorGirl, and waited for Rotag and Fester to get off BBoBH. We went for a night ride on AE, my first one in a long time. All the tunnels except the last lift hill were completely dark. I liked the little bit of lighting these had before, hopefully that returns.

We then bolted to Beast to meet up with other KICers. The large group of us watched the fireworks while in the queue, and were kept waiting for The Beast to start again... but then a few fireworks would go off and we had to start the wait again...but then a few fireworks would go off and we had to start the wait again...but then a few fireworks would go off and we had to start the wait again... After what seemed like forever the line was moving again. We got the last Beast train of the night on a very cold ride. But what a ride! A good end to a good day.

There's just a few things that I missed doing. Mrs. Gator & GatorGirl got there too late to meet the characters, but we did get GatorGirl's picture on the Snoopy bench. I didn't get a chance to get my blue ice cream that I've been wanting for so long. I also didn't get to ride Racer, FH or FoF.

Depending on the weather, I'm planning on going this Saturday, and maybe go up with the girls on Sunday. Their flight doesn't get in until late Saturday night, so they might not be up for it... well, actually, I know the oldest and youngest members of our family will be up for at least a few hours there!

I realized that I never finished off my XGatorHead's KI Adventures: 2009 Edition. I'll have to go back and do that. I think it will mostly be pictures we took on closing day. My memory's a little hazy as to the exact events of that day since we've had an entire off-season between then and now.

And one final thing... giga, my name's not Keith!

Ride Count: AdvExp: 1, BLSC: 1, Beast: 2, BBoBH: 2, DB: 3, FD: 1, Linus Launchers: 1, Monster: 1, RFYLCB: 1, Scrambler: 1, Shake Rattle & Roll: 1, Vortex: 1

Show Count: Way Too Much TV: 2

[standbyme]

Nice to see the 2010 thread start up!

Thanks for the trip report...it was a fun read.

Charlie Brown stuck out his hand to me for a high five. As I passed him, I said "I defended you all off-season, man!"

That you have...that you have. He owes you big time!

I was wondering...how old is Gatorgirl...just trying to get a feel if my 5 year old nephew is going to like Boo Hill.

[CoastersRZ]

What a wonderful trip report! Hopefully the weather will hold out this weekend. I`m planning on meeting some fellow Coney employees at KI on Friday night. Of course, the first major rain event in April has to be predicted to hit on all three days that Kings Island is open this weekend!

[KI-ORIG-EMP]

Do not forget to walk over to the Pet Care and give a BIG hellow to me! I am working the opening shift until 3:30. Beings I worked there in 1972 and lived in near by Kings Mills all my adult life, I have lots of stories to share!

Mike

[KIfan1980]

Gator - thanks for posting this interesting trip report. Reading your stories of spending quality time at KI with GatorGirl always seems to remind me of the fun I have with my boys as well.

And one final thing... giga, my name's not Keith!

I was over in AZ with Tom, Rotag and others when Giga posted on Facebook that she was "in line for DB with brad, keith, shawn, and jesse". We were trying to figure out who she was confusing me with. Thanks for clearing it up.

[XGatorHead 8904]

Thanks for all the nice comments!

I was wondering...how old is Gatorgirl...just trying to get a feel if my 5 year old nephew is going to like Boo Hill.

GatorGirl is 5. Your nephew may be fine, you just never know without trying. She didn't like SD&THC the first time she rode it, but it became one of her favorite rides. I'm hoping she comes around on BBoBH, it's a fun ride with some nice effects. Stay tuned to this topic later in the season to find out if she does...

I was over in AZ with Tom, Rotag and others when Giga posted on Facebook that she was "in line for DB with brad, keith, shawn, and jesse". We were trying to figure out who she was confusing me with. Thanks for clearing it up.

She ended up coming out and asking me what my name was. I kind of stared at her, looked at Tom, and back at her. I thought it was pretty funny. I knew she was mixing me up with you, but you and I don't look that much alike, do we?

[IndyGuy4KI]

April 17th - Opening Day

And one final thing... giga, my name's not Keith!

LOL, I wish I had a dollar for every time she called you that or forgot your name on Saturday, GARY!

Nice Trip Report, still wondering how you got that score on BBOBH?

[Mr. Christopher]

I didn't really care for them adding lyrics to TV themes that were originally instrumental such as "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched" (or originally whistled as in the case of "The Andy Griffith Show").

Those themes were written back in the day with lyrics, they were just aired with instrumental versions. It would look stupid for Way Too Much TV if all they did was dance around to instrumental themes. You have to add vocals.

[rotag]

Nice TR gator, I'm wondering how The Beast didn't choke with both me & you hittin the tunnels @ the same time. & we ran to beast @ the end of the night like 2 gators in a feeding frenzy. =D

[XGatorHead 8904]

I didn't really care for them adding lyrics to TV themes that were originally instrumental such as "I Love Lucy" and "Bewitched" (or originally whistled as in the case of "The Andy Griffith Show").

Those themes were written back in the day with lyrics, they were just aired with instrumental versions. It would look stupid for Way Too Much TV if all they did was dance around to instrumental themes. You have to add vocals.

I agree that in order to include them in a show like Way Too Much TV, there should be vocals. I had no idea that there were lyrics to these themes... I thought you actually didn't know what you were talking about when you said these already had lyrics; I thought the park added them. But a quick Google search, and I was able to find that you are right, there are already lyrics to "I Love Lucy", "Bewitched", and "The Andy Griffith Show", and they are the words sung in Way Too Much TV. I stand corrected!

A majority of the audience would most likely only be familiar with the version that aired on the original TV program, ie the instrumental version. The lyrics actually grew on me a little bit by the second time I saw the show. But especially after your post, I don't have as big an issue with them being included. Thanks for teaching me something!